itch.io

Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to complete the game and share your feedback. Thank you!

Your notes on the final puzzle are particularly helpful.

Lbh'er evtug gung vg'f abg n tbbq rkcrevrapr gb unir gb jnvg fb ybat gb grfg bhg rnpu bs lbhe gurbevrf. Lbhe fhttrfgvbaf sbe vzcebirzragf ner tbbq barf. V jvyy vzcyrzrag fbzrguvat yvxr gung naq V'z fher vg'yy znxr gung frpgvba zhpu zber rawblnoyr. Gunax lbh!

That's the unexpected turn I'm going for with the farm sim presentation!

Sorry to hear you got stuck on the item system. A few people have been tripped up on that. I ran out of time to implement a controls page in the game, so it's really not clear how it works. I'll add a note to the game page about this.

The inventory can be opened and closed by pressing i on your keyboard. Inventory navigation is done with the arrow keys. If you view the jerry can in your inventory, you can read the recipe again. Combining items is done by selecting two items with interact button (e  on keyboard).

Thanks for checking it out and sharing your feedback! :)

Thank you for checking it out and taking the time to leave feedback!
Yes, currently there is no consequence for missing the deadline. I just ran out of time to implement that. Once the voting period is over I will update it.
I also ran out of time to implement a controls page in the game menu. I can see how you would get stuck, not knowing how to use the inventory system / combining items. That's frustrating, sorry about that!
I appreciate the feedback about the full-screening behaviour making that difficult to refer to controls on the game page when playing.

Had to look up rot13!

Lbh'er ba gur evtug genpx! Lbh unir gb jnvg sbe nobhg n zvahgr sbe na boivbhf rirag gb bpphe va gur sberfg (lbh jba'g zvff vg).

Sounds like you've pretty much solved it. Thanks for playing!

Wow, huge amount of game for a month's work! I was already impressed by the great character and UI design, then  the idol management mechanics were introduced... Seems like y'all are very close to a full game. It was smart to introduce the idol management stuff after the first couple of scenes, too, otherwise I think it would have felt overwhelming. Kudos to your team!

Cool art style! I got a bit lost with the world-building. Get that it's a demo for what will be a large game, but it felt like I was jumping into a story halfway through - characters being introduced without much context, as though the player should already know who they are. Curious to see where the story goes in the full version.

Great entry! Having the questions as a resource to manage is simple but fun mechanic. Didn't get it on the first try,  but I will have another crack at it. I recognise it's probably a style choice, but having different outfits for the characters would make it easier for me to keep track of who's who! They're not all guilty yet, so they don't have to be in prison uniforms, haha.

I really liked the minimalist art style - the mix of 3D environments and 2D characters a simple colour palette made for a cohesive style. I wasn't able to solve it, and I see you mention planted evidence by the culprit... Maybe I missed it, but is there a way for the player to definitively rule out the planted evidence? If there isn't some clear contradictions for the player to identify, then the red herrings and real evidence aren't distinguishable. But I may have just missed a key bit of evidence.

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)

Being able to move windows around and resize them made exploring the logs feels really pleasant and intuitive. The UI is so well designed and responsive. I did get thrown, reading the phone logs, by not realising that device IDs referred to the receiving phone and contact numbers referred to the phone being sent to. Maybe that was just me, but if that was made clearer I wouldn't have got so lost in the logs, I think. Story is great. Really enjoyed this!

Hey, thanks for checking it out! Elina says silt is found in river beds and clay "quite deep". You won't be able to get these at first. For a hint, look at the ute/truck and jerry can again, and talk to the kid by the fountain.

Thanks for the reminder! I just filled out the form. No worries if it's too late, though :) apologies for not getting to it sooner.

Thank you for taking the time to write up this thoughtful and considered feedback - greatly appreciated!

And yes, haptics would be great! I was very time poor in the period for this game jam, so lots of stuff I would have liked to include but couldn't.

I learnt a lot from working on this idea, so hope to expand it into something fuller, and implement all the excellent suggestions you and others have shared.

Ah, amazing! So glad you got it. Thanks so much for playing, and for the lovely words of support :)

Thank you for checking it out!

Thank you! I'm curious to know what bugs you ran into.

Thanks for giving it another go! Definitely a design problem that it's not clear enough what affect certain interactions are having that I would need to work on.

I will share that from the second room on there are multiple stations to tune to which provide parts of the whole clue needed to solve the puzzle. Originally I had these set at different positions, so you would rotate around and hear multiple broadcasts and have to piece them together, but some early feedback from a friend suggested that was confusing, and they suggested separate "bands" which you toggle between with the dpad. The trouble there is that it's easy to completely miss this mechanic, as was the case for you. Different kinds of static on each band, or a voice over to label the bands would probably solve that issue.

Anyways, I really appreciate you taking the time to experiment with it and provide detailed feedback.

Thanks for checking it out! Let me know if you can't make out what they're saying and that's where you're stuck. But here's a hint:

There is a missing word from what the female voice is saying - what word could that be?

The male voice says numbers in response to each photo. If you know what the missing word is, you can work out from these numbers the order of buttons to press.

The other clue you need comes from the male voice saying, "Normally I would say six, but this one only has FIVE."

This is also a clue about the sequence of button presses.

Hey! Thanks so much for checking it out. Definitely not a skill issue, more likely a design issue. It's my first time making an audio game.

Can I ask how you were using the controller when trying to tune the radio? My hunch is that you were pulling and holding the analog stick at different positions, when the game requires you to rotate the stick clockwise or anti-clockwise to tune. Definitely a problematic assumption on my part - that any player would intuit that was how to interact with the radio, without any feedback to communicate that. Probably needs more clear audio cues, or a change in UI so the player doesn't get stuck on that!

Appreciate you providing the link to the stream - very helpful!

;)

Thanks very much for checking out and leaving feedback. That's definitely the idea I was going for with the grid-based movement!

Sorry you got glertched.

Ah, good points. Thanks for playing and appreciate the feedback!

Thanks for checking it out and glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you!!

Thank you for checking it out and for the kind words!

Agree that music would be great to have, but given time constraints we didn't quite get to it!

Thank you so much!

I enjoyed it! The zone switching concept is interesting, and I really like the visual effects, e.g. the grid-warping.

I did really struggle to navigate using a keyboard. I tried playing with my dual shock controller but the controls didn't map correctly.

Thanks for checking it out!

The third level solution is maybe counterintuitive because the note bypasses one of the students you've placed... I am curious what combo you had that should have worked, but didn't. One rule, which we should make more explicit in player feedback, is that all students have to be placed for a solution to be valid.

Really appreciate your kind and thoughtful comment. :)

Thank you!
https://itch.io/jam/game-off-2024/rate/3148035

Beautiful and moving. Any game that lets me summon butterflies by clicking a button is a 10/10 in my book.

Love the hand drawn artwork. It's nice to see the photos of that in your screenshots, too!

Thank you for playing! Glad you enjoyed it.

I loved the atmosphere you created with this game! The music, art and animation all work together beatifully to create a sense of a mystical, magical forest.

I got a little stuck with some of the gameplay. I realised after reading the page what I was meant to do in the deer level, but it would have been nice if the game communicated the rules organically, somehow.

Fun game! Soundtrack made me feel like a classy kind of thief!

I did get stuck on the first puzzle, but it was only because I couldn't work out which clue was the right one for that puzzle. I think the puzzle difficulty could be finessed, but it's more about adding multiple steps to some of the solutions. If I had to find multiple pieces of information from different sources and combine them together to solve a puzzle, that would make me feel more like a proper sleuth!

This game is nuts!

Wow, what beautiful artwork! Really loved the style of the characters and environments. 

Fun story, too! I laughed out loud at the police voice.

I did find myself getting a bit confused with the interaction feedback. I kept trying to interact with objects not realising I was out of range. It took me a moment to work out that objects would highlight grey at a certain distance and then white when they were within range of interacting. I think it would be clearer if the objects only highlighted one colour, and only once they were within range of interacting.

Thank you!!

It is quite short. We'll hopefully add more levels once the jam is over.

Thank you for playing! Glad you enjoyed it!

So glad you dug it! Thank you so much! 

Thank you! That's high praise. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for playing, and for the kind words!